Wednesday, May 01, 2013

Leaf Shutter + ND + Flash: A Fuji X100s Daylight Primer

Right about now I feel like Alice in Wonderland, holding the "drink me" cup. Having a leaf shutter, a built-in 3-stop neutral density filter and a real chip in a compact camera is opening up a whole new world of possibilities.

But with these possibilities come some quirks, some compromises and a few technical things to be mindful of. What you need to know about leaf-shutter compacts and daylight flash, below.
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Looking at my Google calendar, I have half a dozen shoots scheduled over the next two weeks. And for every one of them, I am now trying to figure out ways to explore the sunlight-killing sync capabilities of my X100s.

What I am finding: there are real limitations involved. But once you get a grasp of the quirks, there is still plenty of room to do things you have never been able to do before.

This post will be part example, part white paper and part hacker guide. And my hope is that it'll be a useful reference for people going forward.

Wide-Open Flash

The first thing you have to realize with a leaf-shutter compact is that even the tiny little built-in flash actually becomes surprisingly useful. Is it powerful? Nope, not by a long shot. But cranking the shutter and shooting wide open gets you a lot of bang for your lumen buck. Also, being able to shoot flash wide open in daylight gives your photos a look that almost (ironically) evokes the soft backgrounds of a much bigger chip.

The photo at top is a quick snapshot of Mandy, one of our Cuban hosts in Havana last month. It's shot at 1/300th of a second (no huge jump there) at f/2 at ISO 100.

I have the ISO as low as it can go, with the 3-stop ND filter engaged, to kill as much ambient as possible. I am set to wide open (to soften the background) and letting the camera choose a shutter speed.

From that point I am letting the on-board flash drive, set to TTL -⅔ stop. (McNally is in Lagos, Nigeria. So I can safely print this.)

I am not sure if that -⅔ is from full TTL or from an already fill-balanced TTL. Fuji really doesn't parse that too well in the manual. But a zoom-in to the collar area reveals just how much that little flash is doing:

So the sun is my key, the flash is my fill and I am shooting wide-open on a sunny afternoon. It's just a quick snapshot, but the photo has a cool feel due to the wide-open depth of field. And that DoF is also helping my flash, in that it is far easier to balance at f/2 than at, say, f/16.

Except it Isn't Really f/2

But that's something you have to remember. As far as the flash is concerned, I am really at f/5.6 at ISO 100, because the ND filter is eating three stops of both ambient and flash. So the flash is having to work as if I am at f/5.6.

But I could easily knock down that background down an additional stop and a half or so by moving the shutter speed to 1/1000th of a sec and staying at f/2. The current flash power needs would not change at all.

!/1000th at f/2: The Sweet Spot

So, technically, the camera syncs at any speed. But (and this is a big but) the iris-like leaf shutter cannot go past 1/1000th when wide open. That's because the outer edges will get less exposure due to the physical properties of the shutter. So 1/1000th is as fast as you can go when wide open. If you want faster shutter speeds, you have to close down. And that's the real reason the ND is there to begin with, to offset that design limitation.

Yes, you can sync faster. But you have to close down. So there is no flash power advantage to speeding up your shutter, which would in normal circumstances buy you a more wide-open, flash-friendly aperture. Because ironically you have to close down your aperture too, due to the leaf shutter's limitation.

So while the camera syncs at any speed, your flash has the furthest possible "ambient-mix" reach when your shutter is at 1/1000th and the aperture is at f/2.

Your 240ws Speedlight

That's the leaf-shutter advantage, in a nutshell. But shooting wide open (for maximum flash advantage and nice backgrounds) your new sync ceiling is effectively 1/1000th. Or put differently, two stops up from 1/250th. Which effectively makes your flashes two stops more powerful when used with the X100s than when used outdoors with a 1/250th sync camera. (Cue the sobs of a thousand Canon users.)

So a 60ws speedlight becomes as useful as a 240ws monobloc in a typical outdoor portrait situation. A 640ws Einstein, for instance, is now more useful at 1000th than a 2000ws monobloc is at 1/250th on a normal camera. Which is doubly amazing when you consider how reasonable an Einstein is, when paired with a Vagabond Mini Lithium portable power source.

But Even Speedlights Can Reach Out in Sun

While in Cuba we did a very bootstrapped lit group portrait while out in the Viñales Valley, AKA tobacco country. The landscapes were amazing, and we thought this a much better venue than shooting the group in the hotel lobby.

I did not have flashes with me, but I scrounged two SB-800s from my friend Mark Heaps. We squeezed five minutes we didn't really have, in order to do a group shot before hitting the bus to another location.

Here is the entire setup—an X100s on a tripod, one on-camera SB for fill and a VAL'd, slaved SB-800 as a key. Pretty high tech, huh?

Don't look like much, as they say. But with a leaf shutter those SB's can in theory be almost almost as useful as Elinchrom Quadras. For the record, the fill was on ¼ power, the key was on 1/1 power. Exposure was at 1/500th, f/8. No ND is used here, because we want the backdrop to be in focus.

And a quickie, 19-person group shot in a full sun environment now looks like this:

And no, the posing is not very polished. Many were concentrating more on the hand-made cigars they were enjoying than on the group shot. And Erik, (3rd from right in the back) has not yet grasped the fact that if he cannot see the camera with both eyes, then it cannot see his whole face.

But holy crap, that camera is owning full daylight at twenty feet with just a couple SB's. The sun is directly overhead and darting in and out of the clouds. Look at the BTS shot again. Great choice for a group shot, huh?

And we still have some additional flash-to-subject room in that exposure, actually. This is why I am excited about actually taking some time to light outdoor images with this camera.

T.1 Times Matter

This really does not come into play with a normal, focal plane shutter. But in some cases, the actual length of the flash pulse, expressed as a t.1 time, will be your limiting factor.

Think of it this way: If your full-power flash pop actually takes 1/1000th of a second to fully happen, no system in the world will fully sync it at a 1/4000th of a second. It's like trying to squeeze a gallon of time into a quart-sized container. Not gonna happen.

So if you are running into weird limitations, do a little research and look into your particular flash's t.1 times at various power settings. That will probably point to a fix.

Fortunately, the "1/1000th at f/2 at ISO 100 with ND" sweet spot is pretty close to most flash's max t.1 time. But that exposure only gets me to a full-sun balance and soft background. What I want is to dominate full-sun and shoot at wide open. And for that, there is a cheap and easy fix.

Again with the ND?

Yes. So the camera has three stops of ND built-in. Which is awesome. And it's an actual, physical filter, too. And a good quality filter at that. But we can add more at the front of the lens. Don't need much, either, since we already have three stops. Two more stops as an aux-ND filter oughta do it:

This is a high-quality, 2-stop B+W ND filter. It's a good-quality filter, which is (fortunately) pretty cheap owing to its small, 49mm in size. So for an added ~$26, I can choose to use the two-stop filter, the built-in three-stop filter or combine them for a five-stop drop.

I don't have access to four-stops, but remember that is a global adjustment. So I can tweak that EV at my preferred f/2 aperture by adjusting the ISO by a stop.

Two Daylight-Dominating Kits

Needless to say, I am excited about what I can do with this camera in real daylight portrait situations. The limitation, as I see it, is the 35mm throw. I'll have to adjust to that field of view. And still, I'll likely have a second, traditional body with a 50 and a tele on set.

Having done a couple of quick tests, I can match sunlight in pretty close with a speedlight—even running it through an umbrella. So that's cool. A Fuji X100s and a speedlight kit is a great capability out of a super small kit. Adding a second speedlight allows me to gang them for one more stop of sunlight-killing power, or split them for a multitude of different looks.

Kick it up a notch with the X100s and a couple Einsteins, Photeks and a Vagabond battery, and I could dominate sun with a midday, 20-person group shot. Or, obviously, anything smaller than that. Like a single-person portrait, for instance.

Sorry to the uninterested for the windy, tech-heavy post. But long story short (and provided you are willing to learn the quirks and exposure limitations) this is an amazing capability out a small camera and a very portable piece of lighting kit.

61 Comments:

Good read David, I've been getting excited to do the same thing with a new to me Sony rx1. I did some quick tests and it seemed to sync well at all speeds but I didn't check for flash vignetting at the highest most shutter speeds.

BTW - do you not find some of the flash implementation in the X100S to be a bit half baked? Things like having to manually select external flash where every other camera works it out automatically? Also no rear sync, and no flash in continuous drive mode? These seem like arbitrary software limits and hopefully Fuji can resolve these with firmware updates.

Great post! The leaf shutter is a big reason why I decided to pick up the X100S. Were there any issues connecting the SB-800 to the camera, and are there any limitations in using the on-camera SB-800 to fire slave speedlights as opposed to radio triggers?

Regarding the 1/1000s limitation at full aperture: Can you do it, and end up with a vignette? Or does the camera just say no?If you can do it, does the vignette only apply to the flash-lit part of the frame? And how much of the frame is affected?

Great post David. Since buying my x100s 5 weeks ago I've also been playing with the high speed flash, both internal and on the Yongnuo as the slave with the Wein Sync Link IR pulse. It works great, posted some samples at dwwphotography.blogspot.com.au, just search for it and have a look. I love your site and your video on the x100s settings. Regards, David

I shot the X100s with a Profoto Acute pack and the Air sync module and there was no flash exposure past 1/1000s. Past 1/1000s, the flash just did not appear at all in the shot. I repeat the same thing with the SB-910 attached to the camera and also no flash exposure past 1/1000s.

My guess is the leaf shutter only operates up to 1/1000s. Anything faster than that, is another mechanism the camera uses to record higher speed. Which makes sense if think think about it. Medium format lenses only rate upto 1/1000s at the fastest leaf lenses. There's no way the X100S has a magical 1/4000s leaf shutter that's 2 stops faster than the $7000 lenses out there.

A thoughtful, thought provoking post and a great read! I hadn't considered adding a further ND duh. I liked your Canon comment even as a Canon owner myself. I have a wedding gig in a couple of weeks, the X100 gets sneaked out more an more with time, still need a DSLR to keep the customers happy, that's all more or less. Happy days everyone.

OK, I guess I'm still missing just why I can't go past 1/1000s.Here is a quick link to an image that I shot with my x100s. ISO200, 1/3200s, f/2, ND on. Einstein triggered with cybersync radio triggers.

I know it's asking a lot, but could you apply all that you gave us here into a demonstration video...to help with the slow-witted people such as myself?

Also, from what you've said elsewhere, you seem really set-against using Pocket Wizards with the X100s at higher sync speeds. Zack Arias indicates he can get up to 1/800th to sync rather well with Pocket Wizards. But regardless of that, have you had any problems with using flashes in slave mode with the X100s outside...in the bright sun?

And also, thanks for all the time and energy you've put into presenting this, as always.

As for PW vs a wire, there is always going to be some latency in a remote. Even a PW, which is faster than most. So a wire will get you higher up this balancing scale. Which is why Zack tops out at 1/800th with a PW.

Even a slave introduces a tiny amount of latency. Which jus goes to show you how this process is about shaving micro (not milli) seconds.

Your problem is likely in the Acutes. One of the reason they are the more affordable Profoto flashes has to do with their relatively slow t.1 times. They will be outside of the above 1/1000th envelope at most power settings. And the older the Acute model, the worse.

Just curious... how do you deal with the built in flash triggering an off camera flash? It seems that it affects the exposure quite easily; it's very bright. Maybe this doesn't matter outdoors, but I couldn't avoid it indoors. Any thoughts on that?

Keep in mind the leaf shutters in $7000 lenses have to cover a much larger area than the Fuji X100S's APS-C sensor size. If they had to implement a second, focal-plane shutter in the camera to get shutter speeds above 1/1000th of a second, I'm sure it would be mentioned in their advertising. Furthermore, the camera would probably have a maximum shutter speed of 1/8000th instead of 1/4000th.

I have been reading Strobist since around the time of second Boot Camp and was just beginning to think I have an inkling of how to plan a photo shoot when these last few X100 posts come up. My X100 is by my side every day and love it for indoor and close up work. So I was both excited and confused by the idea of having it as my only travel camera. A couple of questions.1. Roughly how far away was the camera for the group photo?2. If you could have borrowed a light stand and an umbrella would you have used them?3. I am attending a family reunion this summer and anticipate indoor and outdoor individual and group photos. My plan was to bring a DSLR two light stands with umbrellas, a tripod, Justin clamps and 3 SB's. Assume I skip the DSLR and only bring the X100 what else would you bring to this event?

FWIW I backup to an iPAD and upload to Dropbox as a second backup each evening.

Hi. Thanks for the leg work and the very readable report. Nowhere do you mention the detail that ISO 100 isn't available on the x100s when shooting RAW. Do you in general not shoot raw? If so, I'd be interested to here more about your various picture settings in the camera when shooting with flash like this. Thanks!

This is the best explanation I've found to the question "What happens at f/2 and 1/4000s with the X100(s)?" :http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/FujifilmX100/17 (Large aperture / high shutter speed combinations in manual mode)

1. You saw that and answered it below.2. Prolly not, unless I had a big boom to get it right out front/over the group.3. I am probably the wring person to ask that question to. I just went to PR for a week, then Cuba for a week and only took an X100s...

As always David; great post! Many thanks, for Your deep plunge into these technical things. And not to forget, it's all for free!! Thats why a pro like me (more than 25y in business), love your blog. Actually, your blog has changed my way of working drastically (and b.t.w my back want's to say thank you too :)

Next week I have the possibility, to test the X100s, and I will keep your experiences in mind while shooting.

DAVID- an older guy here....I could swear that the VIVITAR 283's, when powered down, using the add on manual power adapter (that you swapped out from the 'electronic eye-sensor) produced insanely short durations... 1/7500 and 1/10,000 etc, but damn it has been a while. I don't have an x100S. MY leafs are sitting in with my flat fields in a box marked SINAR....but am curious if this would in fact allow you to break the barrier in some new as yet unexplored way. With enough ND and slow (relatively) shutter speed with a super fast fill flash, you might be able to push the envelope. My camera tech who used to measure flash duration is long gone, in more ways than one. LOved reading your thorough explanation and this re adaptation of what was once, some years back, stock and trade information. Built in NDs? Nope! That was a long way off!! Thanks Again, Stan S, NYC

using my old school magic sync cam, I rarely go up to 1/800s as I may fire my sb900's at full. So mentally I just keep it at 1/500s so that I can easily fire at full without wasting light.

Now this is a real treat. I've been waiting for someone to have the guts to try the fuji's with flash. Theoretically, it can sync, but I really can't confirm by going to forums as there is quite a few people that is knowledgeable enough to do the tests.

In a single article, david closed all of my outstanding issues with the fuji's. Physical ND (thought it was electronic), and flash photog.

Now I'm gonna tape 1/4th CTO on that little built in flash to balance. Yes, I'm the kind of guy that always have gels on the flash.

Sadly though, I'll lose the convenience of nikon's CLS/AWL. The fuji with Buff's cyber commander with the einstein's will be a great combo.

i feel like the dyslectic agnostic with insomnia who lay awake all night wondering if there really was a dog. I'll settle for being a sceptical iconoclast if that is permitted under the rules.Fuji is great innovative company that also makes superb glass but I think we have been gamed by their marketing arm. If the x100had been introduced with interchangeable lenses there would have been little to do other than tweak the firmware and upgrade the sensor and there would never have been an 'X' line. Instead we have three cameras offering variations on the above theme and each lacking something the other two have. This has produced and industry of forums and bloggers advising us which one we should have for our needs and a number of pro's telling us that a fixed 35mm equivalent lens is all anyone ever needed plus examples such as the above post. The great photographers of the past used these lenses because they were all that was available and quickly added cameras and lenses as things progressed. When zoomable lenses arrived they embraced those also. This fad for the fixed lens will pass as well but it is a little dishonest in the ase of some pro's who boast of the X100s or similar as their main camera while using medium format for their commercial work.BTW: any good dslr (including Canon) will deliver HSS. GC.

Hello David,Thanks for the great blog, just picked up a x110s, very happy with it. Couple of things though, I put a heliopan 49mm filter on, and I cant focus closely without hitting the filter, have you had this issue? As well you mentioned wanting to trigger ext flashes optically from the built in flash. I have found this works fine with the flash in commander mode. Have you had any success with that?thanks,Shane

I have not made use of the flash in commander mode yet (that's for TTL). But as for the filter, you have it on backwards. You need an adapter ring (comes with Fuji or 3rd party shade) to use a filter. You just mounted it backwards w/o the adapter ring, thus the problem.

Thanks David, I ordered the third party shade and adapter. The commander mode fires my speedlights no problem, no TTL. Just set my lumopro up and the commander flash is perfect....thanks for all the great advice and tips you provide....

I know this thread is a little old but it's one that I think is of great interest to strobists. I admittedly haven't relied too heavily on my speedlights as main lights. I tend to have fairly high key shots while in open areas. I try and salvage the backgrounds the best I can while popping some fill light at my subjects with a 24" softbox at close range.

I have a pair of 5D2's that I've been shooting and as much as I love them, the 1/200 sync (arguably 1/160) is a huge limitation to somebody interested in strobist photography. I was considering trying some old inexpensive x3200 WLs to try and blast enough light (with ND filter and stopping down a bit) but your article has put me on a new track that I'm pretty pleased about.

I have a wedding coming up in the spring that's on a golf course with no trees close by and no cover (why, I couldn't tell you... not my choice to make I guess). Anyway, I also did some of the engagement pictures on that same course mid-summer and while I pulled it off, I was less than thrilled with the results (luckily, the clients appeared to love them). I've been stressing over how I'm going to be able to do this with an entire wedding party. I can't just put a softbox in their face like I can with 2 people. After reading this, I was able to justify my purchase of a new camera that I've been craving anyway. I'd love to have an x100s but found a perfect and very inexpensive x100 with firmware 2.0 and a serial number that is outside of the dreaded sticky aperture problem (doesn't perform like the "s" but still made it a great little camera). I've done a little experimenting with a couple of 580exII's and phottix atlas IIs and can easily sync 1/1000 (1/2000 when I stop down a little). I might sell my b1600s and pick up a set of e640s (and a vagabond lithium)for the fast t1 time. This has added a lot of options (and fun)to my photography.

I know this thread is a little old but it's one that I think is of great interest to strobists. I admittedly haven't relied too heavily on my speedlights as main lights. I tend to have fairly high key shots while in open areas. I try and salvage the backgrounds the best I can while popping some fill light at my subjects with a 24" softbox at close range.

I have a pair of 5D2's that I've been shooting and as much as I love them, the 1/200 sync (arguably 1/160) is a huge limitation to somebody interested in strobist photography. I was considering trying some old inexpensive x3200 WLs to try and blast enough light (with ND filter and stopping down a bit) but your article has put me on a new track that I'm pretty pleased about.

I have a wedding coming up in the spring that's on a golf course with no trees close by and no cover (why, I couldn't tell you... not my choice to make I guess). Anyway, I also did some of the engagement pictures on that same course mid-summer and while I pulled it off, I was less than thrilled with the results (luckily, the clients appeared to love them). I've been stressing over how I'm going to be able to do this with an entire wedding party. I can't just put a softbox in their face like I can with 2 people. After reading this, I was able to justify my purchase of a new camera that I've been craving anyway. I'd love to have an x100s but found a perfect and very inexpensive x100 with firmware 2.0 and a serial number that is outside of the dreaded sticky aperture problem (doesn't perform like the "s" but still made it a great little camera). I've done a little experimenting with a couple of 580exII's and phottix atlas IIs and can easily sync 1/1000 (1/2000 when I stop down a little). I might sell my b1600s and pick up a set of e640s (and a vagabond lithium)for the fast t1 time. This has added a lot of options (and fun)to my photography.

I have been experimenting with manual hi speed sync - manual flash (Sunpak) mounted on camera and LumoPro off camera fired as optical slave. The camera will only autofocus in shutter priority mode i.e if I go manual and select 1/1000 & 2.0, the camera won't focus. If I however select shutter priority and select 1/1000, the camera will select 2.0 and the camera will focus. Exposure is the same in both cases.

Manual focussing in M won't work as the ambient killing exposure renders the screen too dark to focus peak.

Hey David,Is there any chance of seeing a video tutorial on this? I'm pretty new to photography and even newer to flash light photography with my x100s, so unfortunately some of the points made in the blog went over my head. I understand you are must likely busy, so no worries if you don't have the time.

Great post, but I have two questions for you. First of all - how did you set up your Fuji with ISO 100 ?. The minimum ISO i can afford in my X100s is 200. The second question is about speed lights. I own X100s and righ now i think about purchasing some speedlight for my portraits. What would you recommend ? I take into consideration a fuji EF-20 or yongnuo with wireless triger.

Hi David,This is more a high shutter speed and wide aperture question rather than a strobe question. Can you comment on the DP Review test that shows that the actual max shutter speed at F 2.0 is 500 and not 1000 Here is the page for reference: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/FujifilmX100/17 Tanks for commenting on this as I would like to fully understand this limitation before purchasing the X100T. Thanks!

Couldn't the camera allow syncing at faster than 1/1000th at f2 and just crop out the edges of the frame and make you stand further back to get the same shot? Would this provide a greater flash ratio to help get a stronger effect? Or could it do post processing to remove any darkening? Doesn't the aperture diameter control the flash light let in and the shutter speed control the ambient light?